…18 die within 60km stretch along Masvingo –Mutare in a year
By Rangarirai Shanyurai
At least six people have died in tractor-related accidents in Masvingo province in just one month, raising concern from authorities over road safety and the misuse of agricultural vehicles.
Masvingo Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID) Provincial Head Henry Kahiya revealed the statistics during a traffic safety awareness campaign hosted by Traffic Safety council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ).
The campaign was held at Zishumbe Shopping Centre along Masvingo-Mutare road where he said the recent surge in accidents involving tractors was alarming and highlighted the urgent need for targeted education and regulation.
“There is a worrying trend of accidents in Masvingo Province which involves tractors. Within a month, we have lost six lives due to agricultural tractor related incidents. That’s a big concern. Recently some government officials lost their lives in separate accidents involving tractors at Mutimurefu Prisons and again in Mashava,” said Kahiya.
Kahiya emphasized that the VID, which certifies all vehicles for road use, was working on strategies to educate farmers and miners who operate tractors, many of whom may not be fully aware of road safety protocols.
He highlighted the five pillars of traffic safety, enforcement, evaluation, education, engineering, and emergency response, as crucial to reducing fatalities and improving coordination across departments.
Officer Commanding Masvingo Province, Commissioner Fredrik Mbengwa said 18 lives had been lost within the 60km peg of the same road in one year which was devastating and urged the public to report drivers who speed or drive when drunk.
“Between June 2024 and May 2025, 18 lives were lost and 8 individuals were injured in 13 accidents along a 60km stretch of this road (from the zero to the 60 km peg).
“Even when we use roadblocks as methods of reducing speed but we observe drivers resuming excessive speeds once they pass them. Our gathering today is driven by the tragic loss of life on the Masvingo-Mutare road.
“We strongly encourage drivers to dedicate their full attention to driving when they are on the road. We also urge the public to report any instances of speeding or suspected drunk driving to the police,” said Mbengwa.
Mbengwa encouraged pedestrians to be cautious when crossing roads and attributed most accidents to human error.
“Pedestrians must exercise extreme caution when crossing roads, even at designated pedestrian crossings, as vehicles can unexpectedly develop mechanical faults.
“Vehicles nowadays have a speed limit that exceeds what we had long back but let’s avoid speeding. Most of the accidents are being caused by human error because of speed, receiving calls or changing music while driving,” he said.
Masvingo Traffic Officer Blessing Sai urged drivers to reduce speed paying attention to the condition of the roads saying most of the roads sides had no fencing and that increased the number of stray animals causing accidents on the roads.
“We encourage drivers to adjust speed with the condition of the roads, weather, light and traffic. Failure to make these crucial adjustments significantly increases the likelihood of being involved in an accident.
“A significant and challenging factor is that our roads are unfortunately no longer fenced in many areas, as community members have removed the fencing. This substantially increases the risk of accidents involving animals,” said Sai.
